2000 Ram 1500 4x4 Off Road with Link/Coil Suspension Ball Joint Help. Dodge dealer informed me while getting oilchange and attempt to get front end alignment that they would not do front endalignment for upper ball joint bad. Elected to replace original ball jointswith Moog for everything I read on line eluded to Moog being quality. My balljoints are not pinned (spot weld), no rivits nor do they have Snap ring. In pressing out upper ball joint, Bent thescrew on the C-clamp press, Harbor Freight Ball Joint tool set made inChina. Borrowed the O’reillys Ball Joint tool kit ($200) deposit andsuccessful in pressing out bottom ball joint and installing both upper andlower. The Chilton manual does not show ball joint specs for Ram 1500 4x4 OffRoad with Link/Coil Suspension. I searched the internet and come up with a dozendifferent torq specs for different models/years but not mine. One sourcesuggest torque specs of LowerBall Stud 80 ft lbs & Upper Ball Stud 75 ft lbs. When I attempted thesetorque specs, the notches in the Castle Nut are above the cotter key hole in theBall Joint studs. Double checked and I supposedly (per O’reilly & Moog) have the correct Moogball joints listed for 2000 Ram 1500 4x4. The online catalog did not make adistinctions between Off Road model or Link/Coil Suspension andIndependent suspenison. I know my Off Road edition with Link/Coil suspensionhas little heaver suspension but not able to determine if this would haveanything to do with ball joint size. It is almost as though when torque with 75& 80 ft lbs applied, the castle nut is screwed too high up on the balljoint stud. Not much but still above the notch in the castle nut. I’m thinking issue not my Torque wrench forit is not a made in china junk but a Proto clicker. Anybody got some thoughts, this ole Jar Head Arkie DIY shade treemechanic would be eternally grateful.

 

Yep 75ftlbs lower and 80 for the upper. Not sure if it's possible did you switch the ball joints around so the upper is in the lower spot.

 

Get them to their respective torque spec, then tighten them some more, to get the slots in the nut to line up with the hole in the stud. Install cotter key, call it a day.

 

I had this same issue with both oreilly's house brand and the moog ball joints. I believe I just did what HeyYou said and installed the cotter pin, and tried to bend it up the best I could so it would catch in the castle nut. Not sure if that was/is the right way to do it.

However, I believe I also bought a set of ball joints from Advance Auto Parts, (house brand) and did not have this problem, in that the proper torque lined up the pin hole with the castle nut so the cotter pin would actually do its job.

 

I installed 4 new moog ball joints(problem solver series and greasable) on my dana 60 and they all worked fine.

Lower joints didnt have a cotter pin though. but they did have a snap ring